Wolves fans watched in awe on Saturday as Rayan Ait-Nouri came in clutch against Fulham – and the Algerian’s performance might just have positive consequences for one other player at Molineux.
Ait-Nouri dazzled against the Cottagers in the 2-1 win at Molineux.
Gary O’Neil changed things up and went with a back four, with Ait-Nouri initially at left-back.
But injuries to Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Pedro Neto saw the manager change back to a back three with wing-backs.
In the end, Ait-Nouri was operating as a winger – and the youngster looked a real threat on both sides of the pitch.
Ashley Williams felt he was ‘the difference’ between two good teams at the weekend – and one wonders if his performance could actually now help Hugo Bueno gain more prominence…
Hugo Bueno may now have chance for regular minutes at Wolves because of Rayan Ait-Nouri
For a while now, it has been clear that Ait-Nouri has a lot of good attacking qualities.
His footwork and technical ability are really strong, and the star’s end product is getting better.
He has thrived this season under Gary O’Neil, having failed to make a string of matchday squads last term under Julen Lopetegui.
He just seems to be playing with a huge amount of confidence right now, and his performance against Fulham was particularly exciting.
Ait-Nouri looks very comfortable playing in more advanced positions.
In the eyes of Molineux legends Lee Naylor and Andy Thompson, the former Angers man ought to be playing higher up given his offensive qualities – and one does wonder if O’Neil is thinking about doing this while players like Matheus Cunha, Hwang Hee-chan and Pedro Neto are out injured.
If he is thinking about doing this, then that surely paves the way for Hugo Bueno to finally get some decent minutes for Wolves.
It’s been a bit of a frustrating season for Bueno, who has made just 16 appearances for a total of 507 minutes across all competitions.
He did have an injury earlier in the season. But O’Neil has been extremely taken with Ait-Nouri, and so opportunities for Bueno have been few and far between.
But there is a potential here that the young Spaniard can get in front of the manager and stake a claim to start more often.
If Ait-Nouri is deployed as a winger, and after his display against Fulham this definitely feels a strong possibility, then it might mean the ‘excellent’ Bueno can come back in as a left-back or left wing-back.
Matt Doherty is an option for the manager too, but Bueno is the more natural option.
It is looking like Neto and Hwang will be out for weeks. That’s two wide options unavailable for selection for O’Neil, so surely Ait-Nouri will be considered to play as a winger in the coming weeks, creating a potential opening for Bueno.
O’Neil recently backed the Spaniard to make an impact for Wolves between now and the end of the season, so perhaps this suggests the youngster is actually in the manager’s mind for more minutes.